


Unsatisfied

by xxoceanswavesxx



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: (salt bc i hated puppeteer 2 and offered up a rewrite of it), Chameleon Spoilers, Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Ladybug is Stressed, Ladybug spoilers, ML Angst Month, ML S3 Spoilers, Puppeteer 2 Spoilers, Puppeteer 2 salt, adrien and marinette breakup, adrien fails to fix stuff, adrien gives himself away by accident, adrien is not a good bf in ch. 3, aka it's a breakup chapter, alya and nino get into an argument, alya falls into a coma, alya tries to make marinette practice a confession in front of fakestatue!adrien, ch. 4 is a rewrite of the statue scene in puppeteer 2, ch. 5 is another take on jealous adrien, first chapter features manipulation of a minor, friends getting into a fight, ladybug gets mad at chat noir, ml angst, ml s3 salt, second chapter mentions throat slitting, third chapter is inspired by my happy ending by avril lavigne, this time he ruins a party D:, you can imagine the rest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:53:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21929293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxoceanswavesxx/pseuds/xxoceanswavesxx
Summary: Some prompts for ML Angst Month, specifically covering Numb, Self-Destruct, Breakup, Fight, and Duress.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 32
Kudos: 154





	1. Numb

**Author's Note:**

> For ML Angst Month - https://mlangstmonth.tumblr.com/

It begins on the day that Lila comes back to school. She really does try to just forget about the day and move on, especially at Adrien's insistence and Alya's assurance that she won't be abandoned. While she saves face at Lila's threat, it still eats away at her once she arrives at the safety of her room.

"Nearly akumatized twice in a single day. Although I have to admit that you fighting off the akuma was impressive."

She drops everything at the sight of a hooded figure sitting at her desk, their back turned to her. Even sitting down and slumped in the seat, they're much taller than her, like a willowy tree. It doesn’t help that they wear nothing but dark, neutral colors, hiding any inch of skin on them.

"Mom!"

"Don't bother with yelling," they sigh, "I soundproofed the room before you came."

_ Oh, great, just how I wanted to die! _ She tries to take in deep, even breaths without making it look obvious. Her eyes dart about the room, looking for anything she could use as a weapon. The sewing kit she usually uses sits in a closed drawer in her desk, and with the stranger sitting in front of it, that was no good. There was the mannequin, that might have left a bruise or could work as a distraction from the room if she shoved it hard enough. Perhaps that would be her best option, as long as she could get close enough to it.

"W-What do you want from me?" She asks, trying to make her steps not so obvious.

"I'm not here to harm you, if that's what you're thinking," they yawn, "I heard that you managed to fight off two akumas today. I'm rather impressed."

Frozen in place, she can't help the shocked expression on her face. "W-What are you talking about? I didn't-"

"I have my ways," they shrug, "It's just sad that you had to deal with that in the first place. After all, so many people depend on you."

She can feel Tikki fussing about in her pocket, as if her nerves needed to flare up any more. With her hand gently falling to her side, she forces a smile on her face and says, "I think you're exaggerating. Sure I have a lot of responsibilities, but they're more or less the same as anyone else."

"Right. Of course."

Their tone is so flat and unconvinced, that Marinette has to fight the urge to gulp. Clearly, they know more than they're letting on, but she's too afraid of what lest she accidentally give away something. It's best not to prod further.

"Still, isn't it unfair to put so much pressure on yourself? And to risk getting akumatized when you have just one off day?"

She doesn't have to say anything for them to know her answer. Of course it wasn't fair - _ that _ was why she was fighting every single day to keep Paris safe. That was just the burden of being a hero.

"What if I told you that there was an easier way to deal with it?" They ask, leaning forward in their seat. “A way to keep your emotions off Hawkmoth’s radar?”

“Which would be?”

They hold their hand out, showing off a bunch of white pills. In the center there’s a black smiley face printed on it, looking more complacent than happy.

“Your solution is  _ drugs _ ?”

“I like to call it an  _ emotional compressant _ .”

“Um,  _ no, _ ” she scowls, “I think you need to leave.”

They shrug, heading toward the window, “Think about it, Dupain-Cheng.” 

When they slip out of the room, Marinette collapses onto her knees and sighs, Tikki flying out of her hiding spot.

“That was too close,” Tikki huffs, “That voice sounds familiar though.”

“Do you know them?”

“I’m not sure. I thought it was an akuma at first, especially since they knew you avoided the butterflies. I figured that Hawkmoth likely told them. But then they mentioned ‘emotional compressants’ and I realized that couldn’t be true.”

“What do you mean?”

Tikki frowns, pondering to herself for a moment or two. “Turn on the news,” she finally says, “And check the Ladyblog while you’re at it.”

Much to their chagrin, however, there’s no report of another akuma, and other than her interview with Lila, Alya hadn’t updated the Ladyblog any more that day. To be on the safe side, she does a patrol of the city and sends a message to Chat, asking him to keep an eye out for anything strange.

It’s only two days later that she gets any clue.

“ _ In other news, Parisian university students have been gathering more frequently in protest of Hawkmoth’s attacks on the city. As you can see from this footage, the students are now gathered in front of town hall, demanding that the mayor take action in lieu of the Heroes’ Day attack.” _

Said students carry signs, and the symbol of one of them catch Marinette’s eye. Pausing the screen, she recognizes it as the same smiley face on the pill she was offered. She tunes out some of the report, but pays especially close attention to another protester being interviewed, this time wearing the smiley face as a pin on their jacket.

_ “This is the symbol of Neutressence. We gather to meditate and block out our anger. It’s the only way to keep Hawkmoth from using us against ourselves.” _

_ “Do you think that this is the best way to deal with something like this? What about Ladybug and Chat Noir?” _

_ “Those two? They’re great and all, but so far, all they’ve been able to do are stop and capture akumas. There have been no means of protecting us from being akumatized offered up, and no leads on Hawkmoth’s identity. The people can’t sit complacently until that time arrives. We have to take matters into our own hands.” _

Tikki frowns. “That’s true to an extent but- Marinette?”

She turns off the report, going back to her room to lie down. As if she wasn’t a total mess in her normal life, now she wasn’t doing enough as  _ Ladybug _ . 

“Marinette-”

“Tikki, I have a test tomorrow morning and I’m tired,” she moans, “Let’s talk about it  _ after  _ that, okay?”

Before her kwami can protest, she turns the lights off and falls fast asleep.

\--

Marinette doesn’t meet the figure again until after she’s been expelled by Lila’s doing, and nearly been akumatized into Princess Justice. She storms back into her room, throwing her stuff on the floor, and bites back a powerful sob. How could she let something so  _ reckless _ happen to herself? Hawkmoth came  _ this  _ close to winning today, all because of  _ her _ !

“Hello, again, Dupain-Cheng. Or should I say,  _ Ladybug _ ?”

She gasps and stumbles so hard that she falls onto the floor. The figure is once again sitting at her desk chair, with the same goddamn hoodie concealing themselves, and no apparent expression on their face. 

“I… you’re-”

“Completely aware of everything that has happened today,” they say with a yawn, “I’m not interested in blackmailing you, if that’s what you’re worried about. I just came back to see if you’ve…  _ reconsidered  _ my offer.”

From her pocket, Tikki tugs at her, urging her not to go through with it. But as her fists curl inward, she recalls Tikki’s scolding after nearly becoming Princess Justice. How is she supposed to prevent herself from being akumatized if she keeps getting lectured like this? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have something to keep her emotions under control?

Her hand reaches out for the pill.

\--

It works.

As Ladybug, her missions are far easier. With no risk of being akumatized as a civilian, her identity is safe. The only issue she runs into is Chat and his annoying flirtations. It’s easiest to just ignore them or state plainly how he’s endangering the city. After a while, he stops trying. And sometime after that, he stops talking to her entirely.

As Marinette, she’s finally admitted back into school after Lila admits to her “lying disease”. Things mostly go back to normal, other than her not speaking to as many people as before. There had also been the matter of her losing her Class Rep position, but she stopped caring about that. That left her more time to design or do homework or save Paris. When events stopped being well-organized and the class spent more time outside of school together, she didn’t care about that either.

It was easier that way.


	2. Self-Destruct

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: nothing explicitly gory, but there is a description of Alya's throat being slit.

Her eyes flicker open and she's immediately met with a white ceiling so stark and plain that it's depressing. Trying to sit herself up on the bed, she finds herself utterly alone in a hospital bedroom, horrified at the realization.

Thankfully, a doctor steps in not too long after her awakening, greeting her with a smile.

"Ah. Ms. Cesaire. It's good to finally see you awake. I'm Doctor Verita."

She goes to say something, but finds that she lacks the strength to voice her thoughts. Looking down at herself, she pats her throat, confused by the lack of sound.

"It seems the damage to your vocal chords is still healing. You took a pretty bad hit back then," she frowns, analyzing Alya's expression. "Do you remember what happened?"

Alya shakes her head, and for the first time, is scared to hear what the answer is.

"Ms. Cesaire, it's been about 3 months since your accident. You fell into a coma trying to livestream an akuma attack."

If she could yell, it would have ripped right through the entire hospital. Instead, her face contorts with such dread and horror, it's amazing she doesn't downright cry.

"We'll be contacting your parents now to let them know you've woken up. I'm sure there's a lot they want to tell you."

About an hour and a half later, both of her parents arrive with Nora in tow. They're gentle upon giving her a hug, though the look of worry on Nora's face is immediately apparent.

"Thank goodness, you're okay," her mother sighs, ruffling her hair. “How are you feeling?”

Again, she tries to open her mouth to say something, but sound will come out. Seeing their reactions to this, she simply hangs her head and tries not to look too pitiful.

“Doctor?”

“We believe that the damage done to her vocal chords isn’t permanent, but it will still take some time to recover,” Verita says, showing her mom some of the x-rays, “She might have difficulty speaking again, however, due to the trauma. I would personally recommend speech therapy when it gets to that point.”

Alya looks about to each person in her family, silently demanding an answer for what happened, but only Nora seems to notice her expression.

“Doctor, did you tell her what actually happened to her?”

“Nora-” her mother objects.

“No, she  _ clearly  _ doesn’t recall a thing about what happened,” Nora points out, “Look how confused she is.”

Alya wishes that they would stop staring at her with such pitiful looks and just tell her what happened. What could have been so horrible that they felt the need to keep it a secret from her? After a few moments of silence, Nora sighs and speaks up again.

“During the last fight you recorded, you got into a fight with your friend, Marinette. She warned you to stay home because around the same time, an armed robber was out on the loose. Your other friend, Lila, insisted that you go and film anyway, and for whatever reason, you chose to listen to her. You ran down an alleyway and ran into the guy, and when he freaked out over the sight of you with a camera-”

The rest of it comes flashing by in an instant. She remembers the feeling of the knife against her neck, and the cut that came with it. It’s a miracle she didn’t die, and she can’t help but wonder how she’s even still here at this point.

“And there’s still so much we have to get you caught up on,” Nora sighs, “Like the defeat of Hawkmoth and the retirement of Ladybug and Chat Noir, or how that Lila girl went to juvie for helping a known terrorist-”

She can’t help the little gape that comes from her mouth. It was all over? And she wasn’t there to report on it? Did Lila set her up this entire time?

“ _ Nora _ ,” her father growls, “You’re upsetting her.”

“What do you want me to do then? Not tell her?”

“There’s a time and place!”

As the three adults continue to argue, hot tears prick at the corner of Alya’s eyes, realizing she’ll have to say goodbye to the Ladyblog if there’s no Ladybug. She wanted to be behind the camera for every single minute of Ladybug’s victory over Hawkmoth, and now, there was no way of that ever happening. And that still left the matter of apologizing to Marinette, an impossible task. After the harsh words Alya said to her, that would be an impossible task.

Who would believe a cohort of a known super villian over their best friend, after all?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Alya ends up in a coma because of Lila.
> 
> I guess this counts more as self-sabotage than self-destruct, but close enough, right?
> 
> I decided to change the next prompt to "Break Up" rather than "Complacent" because I rediscovered my love for Avril Lavigne's "Under My Skin" album. I will warn you that it might be slightly OOC for Adrien, but I've already dabbled in that in the past so...


	3. Breakup

There’s something wrong about the way Adrien kisses her. It never lasted for more than a few seconds, she could always feel him shaking, and the way he smiled afterwards felt completely unnerving. But whenever she asked him if her kisses were alright, he never objected to anything.

But as much as she wishes for his words to ease her mind, they don't. Not sure what else to do, she turns to Alya, hoping she won't humiliate herself in the process.

"How do you know if you're kissing him wrong?" Alya parrots, "Oof, trust me, you'll know. The first few times for me and Nino were awkward as hell, but we eventually figured it out. You just have to learn how to read each other."

She frowns, not sure how to respond to that. Still, it's worth a shot, she supposes, and Alya wasn't likely to fail her on this.

_ Mari: hey I need to talk to you.  _

_ Adrien: what's up? _

_ Mari: I mean in person _

_ Adrien: oh, sure, I'll meet you after class tomorrow _

Lying her head down on the pillow, she attempts to drift off to sleep.

She doesn't.

\---

For once, she gets up early and makes it to the classroom before the bell. Just as she's about to settle down at her desk, though, she catches Nino's exasperated voice yelling, "You think she's  _ what _ ?"

Lying herself flat against the wall, she looks through the door window, seeing that he’s in there with Adrien. The expression on his face is difficult to determine - he’s  _ smiling _ but something about it feels off, as though he’s posing in front of the camera or attempting to appease his father about something.

“I mean, why else would she text me something like this? This is  _ the  _ text.”

“Dude, don’t you think you’re jumping the gun a bit?” he points out, crossing his arms, “I mean, have the two of you gotten into any arguments?”

“Well, no.”

“And has she said anything that indicated that she was unhappy with you?”

“No, but-”

“Then what’s the problem?”

A moment of silence passes between the two of them, and Marinette feels her own heart starting to beat faster.

“I know I have to be a good boyfriend, but I don’t think I can really do it. And I think she’s started to figure that out.”

Another pause. She’s just able to catch Nino’s flabbergasted expression, as though he entered the conversation at that moment with no context whatsoever.

“What are you talking about? Don’t you like Marinette?”

“Well, yeah, as a friend.”

She bites her lip, feeling herself start to shake. If he felt that way, then why-

“You…  _ only  _ like her as a friend? So then, why are you dating her?” 

“Um, well, I already messed things up with her at the beginning of the school year, and I didn’t want to risk losing her,” he says quietly, “I didn’t want her to end up getting akumatized because of me. And besides, things have been so much better since we started dating! She and Lila haven’t fought nearly as much, and she’s been much nicer to Chloe-”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Nino interrupts, “You’re dating her to keep her from going after  _ other  _ girls? Dude, that’s pretty messed up.”

“Well, what does it matter, anyway?” Adrien points out, “She’s planning on breaking up with me anyway-”

“I wasn’t actually, but now that doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” she says, barging into the room.

Both of the boys’ faces blanch at the sight of her, nearly in tears and completely shaking. She’s not even sure how she’s able to breathe right now, with the only thing powering her being sheer spite and anger.

“M-Marinette, I-”

“You  _ lied  _ to me, despite knowing that I hate that, and used my feelings against me. Do you understand how  _ embarrassing  _ that is!?”

“I think you’re overreacting-”

“ _ No _ , you don’t get to say that,” Marinette hisses, “At the very least, Adrien, I thought we were friends, and that you could be honest with me. But apparently, that wasn’t clear, so let me fix that; I hate liars, and I hate  _ you _ .”

She runs out of the classroom and all the way back home, demanding to not go back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally going to be "Complacent" but then I remembered how much I loved Avril Lavigne in seventh grade, especially her second album, "Under My Skin". And since that has "My Happy Ending" on it, I couldn't not write something inspired by that. ;D


	4. Fight

"This is so stupid," Marinette grumbles, "I'm supposed to be watching Manon."

"She's with Nino, it's alright," Alya says, dragging her in front of the wax Adrien statue, "What's  _ not _ alright is you constantly tripping over your own two feet trying to confess to Adrien. You gotta up your game, girl!"

"What if I don't want to up my game?" She mutters under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Um, nothing," she says a bit too quickly. "Let's just get this over with. I don't want to leave Manon for long."

For a moment, she allows herself to study the statue. It's kind of strange just how lifelike it is, or how she can detect the slightest whiff of cheese on him. She's tempted to reach out and grab a piece of his hair, just to see what it's made of, but she knows better than to mess with another artist's work. Memories of Chloe messing with her present for their teacher creep back in her mind, and how she had nearly been akumatized for that. She wouldn't stoop so low.

Curling her lips in and gulping, she looks the statue in the eyes for a moment, feeling a blush overcome her. It feels silly to admit, but there's something a bit intimidating about standing in front of the statue, trying to compose herself and admit her feelings. Alya at least has enough grace to make herself "invisible" but Marinette still feels her presence.

"Um, Adrien, there's something I need to tell you," she says, biting her lip. 

"Don't say it like that," Alya insists in a hushed whisper, "He'll think you're about to drop bad news on him."

Scowling, she recomposes herself, clearing her throat. "M-My bad. I didn't mean to say it so gravely. I mean, it's important but not life-threatening-"

"Get on with it!"

"I really like you!" She blurts, "I-I have for a while!" Not sure what else to say, she gives herself a moment to breathe before turning to face Alya's reaction.

"That was so disappointing. Come on, that's all you have to say?"

She frowns, "It's not exactly easy, Alya."

"Sure it is. You just gotta be honest!"

"Easy for you to say! You weren't the one to confess to Nino!"

For a moment, Marinette catches Alya's jaw dropping, a rare sight to behold. It isn't like her to pick a fight with her, but she was starting to get on her nerves. 

Before Alya can object though, Nino comes storming into the room with an oblivious Manon in tow.

"Alya, we need to talk."

"See how threatening that sounds?" Alya points out before turning to him, "Sweetie, it's going to have to wait. I'm helping Marinette with something."

"No,  _ that's _ going to have to wait, because now it's  _ your _ turn to watch Manon while  _ I _ find Adrien," Nino says.

"Nino, I can't just drop this-"

"You made me drop my dude's day out with Adrien!"

"Yeah, well maybe if you didn't abandon us last week to go party with him, I wouldn't be here!"

"Are you seriously still mad about that?"

"All of you guys promised to help and then just bailed without saying anything! Maybe  _ we _ would have liked to party with our friend too!"

“Guys, come on, there’s no need to fight over me.”

For a moment, Marinette can’t even so much as twitch a muscle in her body. The cold overtakes her, until she finally turns her head around, to see a concerned Adrien covering his mouth in shock. She finds herself shaking violently, and doesn’t have any courage to say anything to him. So instead, she turns back to Alya.

“Was this your idea?”

“What? Of course not, why would you-”

“Because dragging me out to a museum when I’ve given you every reason why I don’t want to is definitely something you would do,” Marinette says, nodding her head, “I just can’t… come on, Manon, we’re going.”

“Marinette, wait, I swear I didn’t mean-”

Taking Manon from Nino, Marinette rushes out the museum and tries to fight the tears out of her eyes all the way home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New Year, new opportunities to angst ;)
> 
> Finally ended up writing that Puppeteer 2 idea I always wanted to handle. Like seriously, why wasn't the episode focused on all of them clashing? It would have given Alya and Nino something to do this season as well, but no, we have to focus on embarassing Marinette and feeling sad for Chloe. :/


	5. Duress

_ "In the grip of ecstasy, when the shadows follow me and the night won't set me free..." (Duress by Swervedriver) _

\---

Adrien isn't the sort of kid to disobey his father. He'd fought with him maybe every now and then, but generally, he listened and followed his father's rules where he couldn't justify otherwise and did his best to stay out of trouble.

Chat Noir, on the other hand, could do whatever he wanted. So when Adrien heard that Kitty Section was going to have an album release party and that his father wouldn't allow him to go, he knew he'd have to make a guest appearance under his superhero alter ego. 

Normally, it wouldn't bother him. But between his father controlling his activities more insistently, and filling his schedule with unwanted activities (like photo shoots with Lila), he needed to escape and blow off some steam. What would be better than one of Paris' superheroes making a guest appearance at an up and coming band's show?

The Couffaine houseboat is as lively as ever, decorated with bold purples, pinks and blues, with the slightest spots of orange every now and then. A small stage area has been set up, with the mics already in place, and a rather nice looking poster with the band's logo on it. All of the guests are still on land, waiting to board, happily chatting to each other of the events to come.

Pretty much everyone in Bustier's class is in attendance, minus Chloe and Lila, and he couldn't be happier for it. Those two were akuma magnets, and he didn't feel like dealing with Hawkmoth that night. (Certainly, his lady wouldn't want to either - the past few times he saw her, she looked exhausted. Something about a personal project?)

Alya and Nino are already on the boat, taking selfies and talking to someone just out of sight. He uses his baton to check Instagram, and sure enough, Alya's story contains photos and videos of them hanging out with Kitty Section. One of them shows Nino getting along rather well with Luka, while another, more cutsey video shows Luka and Marinette snuggled up close on the couch, as he tunes his guitar.

His face contorts for a second, and he only realizes it after he's stared at his screen long enough to hear everyone boarding the boat for the concert. Rose is able to get the crowd riled up with her piercing vocals, and their opening song has everyone screaming at the top of their lungs.

Something about the energy makes Chat sigh. He wants to be down there, a part of the party. If only he could just time his big entrance just right...

He creeps a bit closer to the boat, still just out of sight, and allowing for Rose give a big speech about their next song, how hard they worked on it, and what it meant to them. They play a few notes as she continues to gush, before they finally launch into the song. About a minute in, after a powerful section, Chat knows it’s his time to jump in.

He lands on the deck, startling quite a few people, and almost causing some of the players to veer off-tune. Thankfully, as they come up to the chorus, Rose pauses to say, “Let’s give it up for our unexpected guest, guys, the one and only Chat Noir!”

He takes a moment or two to pose in front of the crowd, most of whom seem really excited by the turn of events, while others just seem confused.

“Wait, is there an akuma?”

“Never fear, citizens!” he proclaims loudly, “It’s just a friendly fan, just like you, dropping by to visit their new favorite band!”

This satisfies them enough, and for a moment, the volume and intensity drops so that everyone can excitedly chat and ask him questions. He’s used to the attention as Adrien, but as Chat, there’s something nice about people  _ wanting  _ to have him around and get to know him.

If only he noticed the pair of disapproving eyes from behind the stage.

\--

The mini concert only goes on for a few songs, before devolving into a party proper. His classmates alternate between dancing on the now empty stage, or eating snacks and chilling on the outdoor furniture. It's rare to go more than half an hour without someone trying to take a selfie and Chat makes it his mission to photobomb as many as possible.

Of course, he's not blind to the gossip and whispers. Plenty of people at the sight of the hero partying it up, with no sign of his partner in sight. Soon enough, their curiosities embolden them.

"Hey Chat," Alix asks, crossing her arms, "Why are you the only hero here at this party?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm sure Ladybug will show up soon," he says with a laugh. "She wouldn't miss it for the world."

Of course, he had no way of actually knowing that, but surely she wouldn't mind? No akumas were out, and she could have used the break. Quickly, he takes out his baton to send a message, but he's caught off guard by a piercing response.

"How can you be so sure about that?" Marinette snaps, not looking the least bit convinced. "Someone already promised that Adrien Agreste would show up tonight, when we all know that's not happening."

Frowning, he studies how Luka moves closer to her, patting her shoulder and looking more concerned with her disbelief. Something pricks at his heart as he watches the two of them, so familiar with one another, knowing how to comfort each other without any words.

He had been friends with Marinette since the beginning of the school year, and he still felt like he didn't know her that well. As far as he knew, she and Luka met only recently and would still go through hell for each other. 

_ First Nino and then Mari? Who else has he gotten to? _

"Aw, come on. There's no way my lady wouldn't show up to an event like this! She's got the time, and she promised me a plus one."

Unfortunately, just as he says that, an akuma named Party Crasher shows up to wreak havoc, causing everyone to flee. Some of the furniture gets tipped over in the process, and something gets knocked into the base of the boat, causing a hole.

"Everyone, abandon ship!" Mrs. Couffaine yells, dragging her two children away. Just at that moment, Party Crasher jumps in and absorbs the three of them, leaving them trapped inside a disco ball.

_ Ooh, Ladybug isn't going to be happy about this. _

\--

Sometimes, there are things that the Lucky Charm isn't able to fix, and in this case, that's the Couffaine's houseboat. All of Kitty Section's equipment, not to mention the family's belongings, were now ruined and buried at the bottom of the river. Mrs. Couffaine sat, consoling her two children as she called to make arrangements to stay somewhere.

Following their battle, Ladybug had pulled him aside. He needed to get away so he could transform back, but she didn’t seem too concerned over the matter.

“M-My lady, your earrings-”

“I wouldn’t worry about them. I’ve gotten an extension on the timer. I’d worry more about  _ you _ .”

He gulps, too worried about getting yelled at to wonder when she got more time before transforming back. 

“What were you thinking, making promises you can’t keep?” she frowns, crossing her arms over her chest, “You know that I hate liars.”

“I mean, I was hardly lying,” he says with a small laugh, “You  _ did  _ show up!”

“That’s because  _ you  _ caused the akuma!”

His smile falters, and he can’t help but avoid her gaze. Not that it wasn’t true, but there was something so…  _ cold  _ about the way that she accused him like that. She never raised her voice like that or stared at him with such contempt. And the sad thing was, she wasn’t unjustified for it, either.

“I just wanted you to have fun…”

“Your attempts at me ‘having fun’ have done nothing but made things more difficult for me, Chat,” she sighs, “Now please excuse me, I have to go and finish fixing things as my civilian self.”

“My lady-”

She flies off into the night, and he sits there, wondering how the party could have gone so wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, yes, my favorite Swervedriver song. <3
> 
> This is an alternate take on a prompt I did a while ago, where Adrien got jealous of Luka. This time, he actually goes to the party and ends up ruining it because of his carelessness. :(
> 
> I decided to cut this collection down to five chapters so I could go back to focusing on "A Bottle of Exquisite Stuff". I might do more of these angst prompts at another time, but I'm really itching to forward the story, especially since I still haven't finished the outline. Still, I hope you guys enjoyed this collection! :D

**Author's Note:**

> With "All the Laughs" out of the way, now is the time to try my hand at some angsty scenarios! Huzzah!
> 
> For some context: this prompt is based on an idea that I had for another villain being introduced into the season. The idea was that they would foil Hawkmoth and stand in opposition to him, while not necessarily being good for Ladybug as an ally. A cult would form around this mysterious being, and they would lure Marinette into their ranks by promising to help her block out her emotions and keep her from being entirely akumatized. However, this would have the side effect of being so potent and powerful, that she has to keep following said methods, lest she want to suffer a major emotional breakdown and have Hawkmoth take advantage of that.
> 
> Yes, it's basically a drug addiction storyline.
> 
> If I were to continue with it, the moral would essentially be that drugs and medication CAN be helpful for mental illness and so forth (I have a family member who takes medication for the record), but it's a complicated and messy solution. I say this because I realize that the issue is a complicated one and I realize that doesn't necessarily come across in this piece. But in Marinette's case, it DOES sabotage her and cause quite a bit of turmoil in her life in lieu of the consequences. It's also, you know, dangerous to just be giving out drugs to people clearly going through something, especially minors.
> 
> Anyway, I don't know if I could handle writing a whole story like this, but I liked the idea enough that I at least wanted to try a "pilot" of it so to speak. 
> 
> (And for the record, the new enemy's name is "Numbesis". Because I like ruining potentially deep, emotional ideas with punny names).


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